Author: Ms. R.

The Museum of Deaf History, Arts, and Culture documents the experiences of people in the Deaf community. The theme of fighting discrimination unites many varied exhibits ranging from the history of Deaf education to important achievements of noteworthy deaf individuals. The museum also features a small exhibition of works by deaf artists.  Photographs and exhibits tell the story of America’s first deaf school, established in 1817, and the founding of Gallaudet University in 1864. American Sign Language (ASL) traces……

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Jackie Robinson is a baseball legend and civil rights icon, known for breaking major league baseball’s longstanding color barrier while with the Brooklyn Dodgers. However, before Jackie became known as  #42, he was #9, as a member of the Montreal Royals, an affiliated minor league franchise. Jackie Robinson’s season in Montreal is immortalized in a Boulevard Saint-Laurent mural. When Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson, he had played for one post-war season with the Kansas City Monarchs. Signing a Black……

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Kamakura, the medieval capital of Japan, is set in a “natural citadel” facing the sea and surrounded by wooded hills in all other directions. As there are sandstone cliffs everywhere, it developed a unique style of tomb called the yagura, an artificial grotto where the ashes of the deceased are buried, alongside Buddhist effigies and funerary pagodas. Approximately 3,000 such burial caves are known today, both big and small, and a number of “yagura clusters” can be found all……

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Just over 50 “windows” carved into an almost sheer rock face at the Fos Ravine, just outside Bocairent in the Valencia region of Spain. They open out into as many, interconnected “rooms” behind them. For many years, the origins of these windows were unclear. The earliest proposed origin was that they formed the cells of a Visigoth monastery, though recent research suggests this is unlikely. Since about 2016 they are generally identified as granary stores of Berber origin. (You……

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Within downtown Boston there are no shortage of statues and sculptures dedicated to historic figures. Some are built to honor national figures while others commemorate prominent local community members. Most are for people and events of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, but there is one location constructed in remembrance of a woman from Boston’s earliest days in the 17th century. This woman’s ordinary background and low status within society should’ve shielded her from scrutiny, but she would leave……

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Wonder is everywhere. That’s why, every other week, Atlas Obscura drags you down some of the rabbit holes we encounter as we search for our unusual stories. We highlight surprising finds, great writing, and inspiring stories from some of our favorite publications. An Unexpected Avian Love Story by Terrence McCoy, Washington Post For more than two decades, Romeo and Julieta have met each day at the edge of the aviary in the Rio de Janeiro Zoological Garden. Romeo, a……

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Les Laboirs is a throwback to the time before washing machines. Before this technology was created, and before commercial laundries, this was where the residents of Pfaffenthal would bring their dirty laundry. Residents would gather here to do laundry and exchange gossip. This washing well was supplied by the fountain Théiwesbur, lying to the left of St. Matthew’s Church.  Théiwes is the old Luxembourgish name for Matthew, the patron saint of Pfaffenthal, a quarter in central Luxembourg City. In……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit the Super Museum, a small midwestern museum dedicated to all things Superman. Located in Metropolis, Illinois, the museum has embraced what it means to be the namesake hometown of one very famous superhero. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible……

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It’s been said that procrastinators are simply optimistic. We have faith that timing will work out, never mind that we set our clocks to be 10 minutes fast and see train schedules more like guidelines. So in the spirit of goodwill toward all perpetually late people, the editors at Atlas Obscura believe in you to fulfill your gift-giving promises … even if that means clicking “Subscribe” on the morning of December 25th and passing it off like you’ve been……

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Gales of wind gust in and out like the breath of an enormous beast as the storm begins on Quirpon Island, just off Newfoundland‘s northernmost tip. The rain comes in sheets, soaking the isle’s emerald mesas and pebbling the icebergs that float offshore. Other than the lonely lighthouse warning sailors from the jagged fangs off the island, Quirpon is barren. Except for the lighthouse’s caretakers and the odd visitor to the Quirpon Lighthouse Inn, none have willingly stayed on……

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In 1950, Icelandic researcher Jón Eyþórsson came across a gathering of fuzzy green puff balls, the size of small gerbils, scattered across Hrútárjökull Glacier in the southeast of the country. Curiously, the mossy balls weren’t attached to the ground, and many were green on all sides, indicating they must slowly turn so that the entire exterior sees the sun at some point, theorized Eyþórsson. That fall, he wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal of Glaciology. “I……

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